Lesson #128: चाहना caahnaa - To Want

Can you remember all the way back to Lesson #85? In that lesson we learnt all about the Hindi word चाहिए caahie - which is used to show that someone wants / needs something. So for example we might say…

अमित को नई चप्पलें चाहिए
amit ko naee cappalen caahie
- Amit wants new sandals

This should just be revision so if you’re confused at all then simply head back over to Lesson #85. Now can you recall that in that lesson I told you that we only use चाहिए caahie when talking about wanting an object? Well in today’s lesson we’re going to learn how to talk about wanting to do something! So are you ready to get going…

The all important verb for today is चाहना caahnaa - to want. Can you see that it’s similar to the word चाहिए caahie that we’ve just been revising? So how do we use चाहना caahnaa? Well let’s start by seeing an example…

मैं सिनेमा जाना चाहता हूँ
main sinemaa jaanaa caahtaa hoon
- I want to go to the cinema (said by a male)

So what’s going on here? Well can you see that we use चाहना caahnaa just like we would use any other verb (for more details on this see Lesson #28) and then we just throw सिनेमा जाना sinemaa jaanaa - ‘to go the the cinema’ in the middle of the sentence! Easy hey?! Ready for another example?

मैं अख़बार पढ़ना चाहती हूँ
main akhbaar parhnaa caahtee hoon
- I want to read the newspaper (said by a female)

Can you see what we’ve done this time? It’s exactly the same structure as the last example, this time we’ve put अख़बार पढ़ना akhbaar parhnaa - 'to read the newspaper’ in the middle of the sentence! Also remember that because it’s now a female talking we use चाहती caahtee.

Have you got that? Ok let’s try one more simple example together then, can you think how we would say 'Mohindar wants to learn English’? Have you got it? That’s right, we’d say…

मोहिंदर अंग्रेज़ी सीखना चाहता है
mohinder angrezee seekhnaa caahtaa hai
- Mohindar wants to learn English

Have you understood everything so far? It’s nothing too extreme and complicated is it? Now, how do you think we use this verb in the past tense, so that’s sentences that use the word 'wanted’?

Well actually it’s easier than you might think! चाहना caahnaa is a transitive verb, so that means we simply follow the rules we learnt back in Lesson #83 - and that means we have to use ने ne! So for example we might say…

उसने टीवी देखना चाहा
usne teevee dekhnaa caahaa
- She wanted to watch TV

Can you see what’s happened here? We’ve added the 'thing’ we want to do in the middle again, टीवी देखना teevee dekhnaa - 'to watch TV’, and then we’ve used the masculine past tense of चाहना caahnaa - चाहा caahaa - to agree with the masculine word टीवी - TV. Are you still with me? Let’s see another example…

हमने नाचना चाहा
hamne naachnaa caahaa
- We wanted to dance

Can you see what we’ve done here? Remember that 'to dance’ is नाचना naacnaa. See it’s not that bad is it?

Now take a little breath, there’s just one more final rule to know, are you ready? If you want to say a sentence like 'someone wants someone else to do something’ then you do it slightly differently. Let me show you an example…

माताजी चाहती है कि मैं पढ़ूँ
maataajee caahtee hai ki main parhoon
- Mother wants me to study

Ok this is quite a complicated sentence here, so what’s going on? Well let’s break it down bit by bit…

Well we’ve started with माताजी चाहती है maataajee caahtee hai - 'mother wants’, this is straightforward yeah?
Then we’ve used कि ki - which translates as 'that’, so, this far we’ve got 'mother wants that…’.
Finally then we finish with मैं पढ़ूँ main parhoon - this means 'I should/may study’. If this looks familiar then it’s because this is the Future Conditional Tense we saw back in Lesson #103 so head back there if you can’t remember!

So in this example above we are literally saying “Mother wants that I should study” - Mother wants me to study! Got it? Let’s see another example. How would we say “Rajesh wants me to go to the shop”? Well like the example above, we’d literally say “Rajesh wants that I should go to the shop” so have you got it? Yeah that’s right…

राजेश चाहता है कि मैं दुकान जाऊँ
rajesh caahtaa hai ki main dukaan jaaoon
- Rajesh wants me to go to the shop

Can you see? Just like above we’ve literally said “Rajesh wants that..” and then followed by “I should go to the shop” using the Future Condition tense. With me?

Ok wow, phew, that’s the end of today’s lesson. Well done for making it all the way to the end, I know it hasn’t been easy! Hopefully you now know how to correctly use चाहना caahnaa in all your Hindi sentences!

Have you got any questions? Are you confused about any of the examples? Feel free to leave them in the comments section just below and I’ll do my best to help you.

To test your understanding of the lesson try translating these sentences into Hindi, leave your answers in a comment below and I’ll let you know how well you’ve done!